Motivation of a Sales Force
... Motivation is a way to bring the sales force closer to a goal set by their company. The problem with motivation today is that there are too many general motivation procedures or packages. ... Sales managers today need to take the time and effort to get to know their employees on a personal level to find out what things would motivate them specifically. ... A sales manager must realize that there is a difference between a manager and a leader (Brewers 1). In order to be the most effective manager to host the most effective sales team, a manager must become a leader. To differentiate between the two, “A leader energizes and motivates a sales force to achieve seemingly impossible goals. A manager makes sure the sales process works. ... With this being said, all managers should strive to be a leader in order to motivate their force effectively. The biggest challenge in motivation is to distinguish “what makes that person happy, excited, bored, or frustrated” (Stevenson 2). There are a several ways for a sales manager to make efforts to get to know his/her employees. ... 10 Minute Guide: Motivating People offers a skeleton list of some questions that will aid a manager in distinguishing what techniques will motivate his/her sales force. By asking the employees to answer these questions, a sales manager will have a more appropriate advantage in uncovering what specific things will motivate the sales team. ... A good sales manager needs to learn which level that each employee is in. ... It is important for a sales manager to remember that individual people have different needs at various times. A sales manager must always know what employees are going through. Another important factor for a sales manager to remember is that they should not use the same reward over again or it will become habitual and lack the motivational affect originally desired (Stevenson 6). ... It is important for a sales manager to understand this and be prepared to experience emotional displays in a variety of different ways. Sales representatives must also be aware of their own emotions and those of co-workers. In order to be a successful motivator, understanding emotions will enable a sales manager to understand his/her reps on a deeper level. In Work Motivation in Organizational Behavior, author Craig Pinder goes over the importance of understanding emotions. ... Many companies today are realizing that motivation is a necessary practice that sales managers must use to ensure adequate sales performance. ... Statistics show that his implementation of motivational sales training has been quite successful. ... Three years later, and with the new sales training from Whitley, the number rose to 10. ... Steven Whitley displays how sales motivators must define the beliefs and needs of each individual rep (2). Two things that are not specifically related to motivation, but definitely have an affect over the performance of the sales force is, the difference between punishment and positive reinforcement between sales manager and sales rep. ... After understanding the intricacies of sales motivation, a suggested motivational plan would consist of the steps that follow: 1. Determine the Sales Reps Needs, Wants and Desires. ... It’s important for a sales manager to not confuse his/her own motivation for that of the reps (Stevenson 7). ... Offer a variety of compensations/incentives so that all participants will experience the desired motivation. ... Motivation is a common concern among sales managers. There are multitudes of suggestions and tips on how to motivate a sales team to produce the highest productivity. ... For example, Gerry Robert points out in “The Problems With Motivational Psycho-Babble Sales Training,” that many of the techniques that have been used and the past, and possibly are still being used today, are completely out dated and extremely ineffective. Roberts describes strategies such as motivational seminars, sales pitches, closing tips, manipulation methods, and many more that may seem exciting and believable to the sales rep at the time of description, but in reality, don’t work much longer than a week (Robert 1). These ineffective motivational techniques give a negative connotation to the sales training philosophy as a whole. Because a sales manager is unable to use the same exact techniques continuously, and still be successful each time, many different approaches have been developed to motivate the sales force. ... Motivation is internal and it comes deep within each of us. Since this motivation comes from within, in order for a person to become motivated they must motivate themselves. “Although leaders can’t control motivation, leaders certainly can affect it; they can create conditions where people want to be motivated and therefore motivate themselves” (Baldoni 4). ... In the field of sales, most businesses may have many satisfied clients. ... An activity called the ‘Phone-Out Award’ (46) can really help to improve the volume of outbound sales calls. For this activity the sales people should be divided in to teams. ... If the sales representatives have achieved their budgets, then management has to pay for dinner.